This invention concerns improvements in and relating to polyester fiber filling material, commonly referred to as fiberfill, and more particularly to improvements in the resistance to burning of such material and of articles, such as batts, quilted composites, fabrics, garments and other articles made therefrom.
Polyester fiberfill is used commercially in many garments and other articles, such as sleeping bags, comforters and pillows. A particularly useful and desirable form of polyester fiberfill has a coating of cured polysiloxane, e.g. as disclosed in Hofmann U.S. Pat. No. 3,271,189 and Mead et al. U.S. Pat. No. 3,454,422, because certain desirable properties, such as bulk stability and fluffability are improved thereby.
It is always desirable to reduce the flammability of fabrics and particular attention in industry has recently been directed to ensuring that camping articles, primarily tents, but also other camping articles such as sleeping bags, have burning rates below at least minimum standards. Although there are presently no Federal guidelines as to the minimum acceptable burning rate for such articles other than the 45.degree. angle test (CS-191-53), the Canvas Products Association International (CPAI) has proposed a test procedure that has been used herein.
T. J. Swihart and P. E. Campbell have reported "How Silicones Affect Fabric Flammability" in an article in Textile Chemist and Colorist, Volume 6 (1974) pages 109-112. The object of the present invention has been to reduce the horizontal burning rate of polysiloxane-coated fiberfill subjected to a small flame, such as a candle or burning twig, without losing the desirable properties brought about by the use of the polysiloxane coating.
A recent suggestion for improving the flame-resistance of polyester fiberfill has been to coat or bond a mixture of 65 to 95% polyester and 5 to 35% of non-flammable halogen-containing polymer with a specific non-flammable halogen-containing copolymer containing up to 10% of flame-retardant halogen-containing synergist in Hurwitz South African Patent Application No. 74/6184. He notes that conventional binders often tend to increase the flammability of textile products. He warns against the use of large amounts of halogen-containing polymers in fiberfill because of the severe loss of resilience and the tendency to pack down in use. He notes that, although expensive flameproof fibers are available and have been blended with flammable fibers in an attempt to obtain less expensive textile products having non-flammable properties, the products obtained from such a mixture of polyester fibers still have deficiencies making them unsuitable for many uses if the proportion of non-flammable fibers content is high enough to make the product self-extinguishing.
It was very surprising, therefore, to find that a significant reduction in the burning rate of polysiloxane-coated polyester fiberfill articles could be achieved without significant loss of desirable characteristics merely by incorporating relatively small amounts of other fibers.